Earlier this year, an exposé documentary on the alleged evils of SeaWorld, "Blackfish," was released to several film festivals, and later made its way to cinemas across the U.S.
After months of relative silence of their behalf, Vice President of Communications Fred Jacobs agreed to an interview with CNN over the controversy of keeping captive orcas and using them for entertainment purposes.
"Blackfish is billed as a documentary, but instead of a fair and balanced treatment of a complex subject, the film is inaccurate and misleading and, regrettably, exploits a tragedy that remains a source of deep pain for Dawn Brancheau's family, friends and colleagues," Jacobs told CNN.
"To promote its bias that killer whales should not be maintained in a zoological setting, the film paints a distorted picture that withholds from viewers key facts about SeaWorld - among them, that SeaWorld is one of the world's most respected zoological institutions, that SeaWorld rescues, rehabilitates and returns to the wild hundreds of wild animals every year, and that SeaWorld commits millions of dollars annually to conservation and scientific research. Perhaps most important, the film fails to mention SeaWorld's commitment to the safety of its team members and guests and to the care and welfare of its animals, as demonstrated by the company's continual refinement and improvement to its killer whale facilities, equipment and procedures both before and after the death of Dawn Brancheau."
"Blackfish," which details the events leading up to the death of orca trainer Dawn Brancheau, was made over the course of several years by filmmaker Gabriela Cowperthwaite, who interviewed former park employees and searched for "hidden" footage and national newscasts under the Freedom of Information Act.
"It was just perseverance when it came to getting footage," Cowperthwaite said in an interview this summer. "I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Once you see that, you can't unsee it. In my mind, that gave me my directive. Now that I know the truth, I have to tell the truth. I didn't imagine that I was going to be making this film. I thought I was gonna be making a completely different film about relationships with our animal counterparts. So it was really learning through interviews and stuff and seeing footage."
Initially after Brancheua's death, SeaWorld claimed it was an accident and later, a result of trainer error, "Blackfish" argues that her death was the tragic result of keeping orcas in captivity, where they are often abused, unstimulated and lonely, leading lives quite the opposite of the highly social and adventurous ones they do in the wild, open ocean.
Brancheau was attacked and killed by the orca Tilikum, a traumatized whale who was previously responsible for three trainer deaths that SeaWorld allegedly covered up, though the theme park company denied it.
"Tilikum did not attack Dawn," SeaWorld said in a written response to the film. "All evidence indicates that Tilikum became interested in the novelty of Dawn's ponytail in his environment and, as a result, he grabbed it and pulled her into the water."
Cowperthwaite's footage paints a very different picture. Former employees who were quite close to Brancheau and Tilikum described the incident as bloody and brutal, the whale effectively scalping his trainer after grabbing hold of her ponytail and refusing to let it go, and even playing with her dead body.
While the gory details of Brancheau's death were not revealed via footage, the documentary provides plenty more disturbing images of injured entertainer orcas, whales being taken from their screaming mothers in the wild, and a haunting segment in which a highly experienced trainer nearly drowns several times after his whale keeps dragging him back down into the depths of the pool. The film also provides footage of SeaWorld employees giving false information to visitors on the average lifespan of a killer whale in the wild, as captive whales tend to live much shorter lives in captivity.
CNN pointed out to Fred Jacobs that according to marine biologists, in the wild, killer whales are used to swimming hundreds of miles each day, making their captivity at SeaWorld an arguably unsuitable environment.
"While a killer whale can and occasionally might travel as much as 100 miles in a day, it should be said that swimming that distance is not integral to a whale's health and well-being," Jacobs said on behalf of SeaWorld. "Killer whales living in our parks are given all the food they require. They also exercise, receive veterinary care, live in the company of other members of their species, and receive mental stimulation. They adapt very well to life in a zoological setting. I should also note that the overwhelming majority of killer whales in our parks were born in the care of man."
As for Tilikum, Jacobs said that he is currently doing well "for a whale that is more than 30 years old."
"He interacts with other whales and our zoological staff and he makes regular public appearances," he said.
In "Blackfish," Cowperthwaite points out that Tilikum's collapsed dorsal fin is extremely uncommon wild whales, though it exists quite often in captivity, and killer whales can live to be anywhere from 50 to 80-years-old in their natural environments.
